Arthur Edis Dean was the 3rd Warden of Goldsmiths' College 1927-50. He played a major part in the reconstruction of the college after it was bombed in WW2.
While it was previously known as Goldsmiths' College and later as Goldsmiths College - the apostrophe was removed in 1993, and the word "College" was dropped in a 2006 rebranding - it is now known as Goldsmiths, University of London.
He was born on 8 June 1883 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland (now Tyne and Wear), the eldest of the four children of Frederick Dean (1856-1893) and Margaret Baird Dean née Dawson (1855-1936). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1883 in the Newcastle upon Tyne Registration District, Northumberland.
In the 1891 census he is shown as aged 7 years and a scholar, living at 86 Sidney Grove, Arthurs Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne, with his parents and his three sisters: twins Eva Dean (1888-1962) and Winifred Dean (1888-1963) and Mabel Dean (1890-1980), together with a female domestic servant. His father was described as a draper's assistant.
By the time that the 1901 census was undertaken his father had died and his widowed mother was shown as employed as a resident housekeeper at 119 Brighton Grove, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, the home of George Miles, a clergyman in the Church of England. He was shown as aged 18 years and a student living at 73 Brighton Grove, Elswick, the home of his paternal grandfather, Joseph Dean (1823-1904) - a draper.
He is shown in the 1911 census as aged 27 years and a lecturer at a day training college, visiting the eleven roomed family home of a William Musgrave Wood, his wife, their son and their daughter Elsie Georgina Wood (1882-1972) - a trained nurse, at 6 Nowton Grove, Chapeltown Road, Leeds, Yorkshire.
On 26 July 1913 he married Elsie Georgina Musgrave Wood at St Martin's Church, Potternewton, Leeds, County of York, West Riding (now West Yorkshire), where in the marriage register he shown as aged 30 years, a bachelor and a professor of education residing at 34 Windsor Terrace, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of Frederick Dean, a deceased draper, whilst his wife was described as aged 31 years and a spinster living in Newton Grove, Leeds, the daughter of William Musgrave Wood, a retired cloth merchant.
The London Gazette shows that as a cadet and whilst employed as an education officer he was commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant with effect from 28 November 1918.
When he completed his 1921 census return form he described himself as aged 30 years and an Inspector of Schools employed by Kent Education Committee at the County Education Offices, Maidstone, Kent. He was living in a nine roomed property at Rose Villa, Loose, Maidstone, with his wife, their two children: Michael Edis Dean (1918-1996) and Antony Musgrave Dean (1921-2010), his sister Eva Dean who was an elementary school teacher employed by Maidstone Education Committee at Union Street Council School, Maidstone, together with a female general domestic servant.
The birth of his son, David E. Dean was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1922 in the Maidstone Registration District, Kent.
The 1939 England and Wales Register confirms his date of birth as 8 June 1883 and lists him as a Warden, residing at the home of Dorothy M. E. Symes, a Training College Vice Principal, at Hugh Stewart Hall, Lenton Hall Drive, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, with his wife and their eldest son.
As the Warden of Goldsmiths' College, he was appointed as a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1944 New Year Honours List.
From the Goldsmiths History Project website we learn that: 'Sadly Mr Dean was run over and killed when crossing a road in Blackheath on his way for another College'. His death was registered as aged 77 years in the 2nd quarter of 1961 in the Woolwich Registration District, London. Probate records confirm that his address had been 38 Kidbrook Park Road, Blackheath, London and that he died on 4 March 1961 at the Memorial Hospital, Shooters Hill, London, SE18. His body was cremated on 9 March 1961 in the Greenwich, London, district. Probate was granted on 18 May 1961 to Lloyds Bank Limited and his effects totalled £9,035-13s-0d.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk and Andrew Behan.
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